Molecular Cloning of a cDNA Encoding a Member of a Novel Cytochrome P450 Family in the Mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis

We isolated a cDNA encoding a cytochrome P450 from the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis. The mRNA is 2.1 nucleotides long and contains an open reading frame encoding a protein of 545 amino acids. A conserved home-binding domain, characteristic of cytochrome P450 proteins, is present in the deduced amino acid sequence. The Lymnaea cytochrome P450 protein shares less than 40% positional identity with any known member of the cytochrome P450 superfamily, and therefore, represents a separate family, which we propose to name CYP10. The CYP10 mRNA is shown to be uniquely and abundantly expressed in the female gonadotropic hormone producing dorsal bodies of L. stagnalis.